


I'll Be Home For Hanukkah: The Rom-Com We Deserve

by pertainstothesea



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: AU where they meet when holster is stranded at the airport on the way to a latke festival, Hanukkah, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:55:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28141227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pertainstothesea/pseuds/pertainstothesea
Summary: Justin is stranded at the Washington, D.C. airport thanks to a storm, unable to get to Toronto for his sister's birthday. Adam is stranded at the airport, unable to get to Buffalo to compete in the latke-making competition that is a Birkholtz family tradition. They team up for a road trip up the East Coast-- but will they make it in time? And more importantly, can a road trip like this lead to love?
Relationships: Adam "Holster" Birkholtz/Justin "Ransom" Oluransi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 38





	I'll Be Home For Hanukkah: The Rom-Com We Deserve

**Author's Note:**

> We will likely have some canon-typical light swearing in this one.

Justin was doomed.

Well. That might be a little melodramatic.

Justin was facing a night or two in a Washington D.C. airport hotel, the way this storm was going. It wasn’t the worst storm ever on the ground, but the winds were strong enough that the planes were grounded.

“Are you sure there isn’t any other flight I could take? I’ll reroute myself to California if it means I can get up to Toronto,” he asked the gate agent, even though he already knew the answer. His flight was officially no longer delayed, but cancelled.

“I apologize, Mr. Oluransi,” she said. “We’ll work to get you on the soonest safe flight, unless you’d prefer a refund with some bonus frequent flyer miles to use on your next trip.”

“I’ll think about it,” he said with a frown. “Can I go get some caffeine and make a couple of calls before I decide?”

“Of course. Please don’t hesitate to ask any of our gate agents for assistance.”

He dragged his carryon behind him through the terminal looking for any coffee that cost less than $7. Somehow, through the magic of overpriced airport food, the cheapest option was Starbucks. This cancelled flight really, truly sucked. He decided to postpone his phone call until he was halfway through his coffee. The prospect of telling his little sister that no, actually, he wouldn’t be able to come home for her birthday, even though he’d made sure that his business trip would be over by then, was too much to handle. Ugh. Amanda’s December twenty-fourth birthday was already overshadowed by Christmas. She was going to say it was fine, but he knew she’d be upset. He was standing by the end of the counter, waiting for his quadruple shot salted caramel mocha when he noticed the guy. They were somehow the only two people in the airport Starbucks at 10PM.

The guy was tall and blond, with wire-rimmed rectangular glasses that looked like they were made in 2006. His teeth were like a row of polished chiclets, and he was actually pretty cute, in a jock kind of way. He was close to tears as he talked on the phone.

“I’m going to see what I can do. I know. I know! You’re right. We can’t let them beat us, and we won’t. I’ll find a way. I promise, Rach, I’ll find a way,” he said into the phone, probably louder than he realized. He hung up and looked down at the darkened screen of his phone as he blinked back tears.

“Cancelled flight?” Justin asked.

“Yeah,” the guy said, miserable. “My latkes are doomed.”

“What?” Justin wasn’t entirely sure what a missed flight had to do with latkes.

“My sister always overcooks them, but not in a good crispy way, in a weird bad way where they’re somehow both burnt and soggy. And my dad is definitely going to forget the kevlar gloves and end up grating his finger on the box grater, and then they’ll have to start over. And we’ll lose the title, and we’ll never be able to show our faces at the competition again.”

“Okay?” Justin said when it was clear that the guy wasn’t going to expand on the subject. His mocha was taking forever. “I’m trying to get to Toronto for my sister’s birthday. You’d think they’d know how to get a plane that can handle some wind, right?”Latke guy was suddenly actually looking at Justin. It felt more intense than he expected.

“You’re going to Toronto. I’m going to Buffalo. You’re not a serial killer, are you?”

“What? No, of course not,” Justin said, thrown by the question. Who asked strangers that? Would a serial killer even tell the truth?

“Great. I’m not a serial killer either. Let’s rent a car and drive north together,” he said, continuing before Justin could come up with any objections, “it looks like it’ll take about nine hours with the snowstorm that’s happening in Massachusetts. We can drive in shifts and make it to Buffalo before the New York Latke Festival starts, I’ll win it, and then I can drive you to the border. It’ll be cheaper and safer than doing a solo ride, and a hundred times faster and more enjoyable than being stuck in a shitty airport hotel, or sleeping in a chair at the gate.”

Here is where, if Justin was being logical, he would have said “no, you are a complete stranger who has only ranted to me about latkes. There’s no way this can go well.”

Instead, he said “Let me cancel my flight officially and we can get going. My name’s Justin, by the way.”

“I’m Adam,” latke guy said with an enormous grin. “I’ll wait for you here.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know that DC has three airports, I just didn't feel like doing the research to figure out which one would be more likely for them to be at, and we're playing with rom-com rules so if it was a movie it would just be filmed at a generic airport soundstage anyways. 
> 
> I'm hoping to have a second chapter up tomorrow, and after that it'll be pretty sporadic. I really wanted to get this done in time for Hanukkah, but the seasonal affective disorder has hit me in the face with a baseball bat and I just haven't had the words in me. Here's hoping it's done by Hanukkah 2021, 2022 at the latest.


End file.
